


Review of the Sword in the Stone

by yourlibrarian



Series: Reviews [10]
Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: Episode Review, Episode: s04e12-13 The Sword in the Stone, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 13:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6706300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All in all, I liked the two-parter finale. It seems there's always some dramatic battle for those.  And it was an important season in many ways with Arthur actually becoming king, Guenevere's crowning, Lancelot's death (and return), and the reveal of Excalibur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Review of the Sword in the Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted March 31, 2012

All in all, I liked the two-parter finale. It seems there's always some dramatic battle for those. And it was an important season in many ways with Arthur actually becoming king, Guenevere's crowning, Lancelot's death (and return), and the reveal of Excalibur. This season certainly seemed to be playing more strongly into the Merlin-Arthur bantery stuff which, given their positions to one another, seems to lean into shippy territory. A good case in point was the opening scene in Part 1.

I loved the fact that Arthur was picking his ear in the opening scene. Obviously the whole “Am I fat?” thing was written to be humorous, but to me it simply screamed “domestic.” It was also interesting how his later line, “No one likes to be called fat, Merlin,” could have been snarky and deflective. Instead it was played with the same vulnerability as the later lines about Guenevere. 

In general the first episode seemed to be about vulnerable!Arthur, whether because of his waist size, his uncle betraying him, his wounded ribs, or, of course, witless Arthur. And then episode 2 shifted that into insecure Arthur. Aside from the serious problems I had with the witless Arthur section anyway, story-wise I thought it seemed superfluous because Arthur's self-doubt had enough going for it already. Considering how true it's been that he has been unable to figure out who he can and can't trust and how he's been betrayed repeatedly, having Merlin do what he did in part 1 just seemed particularly abhorrent, and in my eyes, undermined what he did with the sword in part 2.

I thought Merlin was simply going to knock Arthur out. The whole mind-rape angle of him basically making Arthur follow whatever he said was seriously creepy, even if the actor succeeded in making Arthur, by turns, funny and sweet, and Colin Morgan made Merlin more bemused than commanding. I’ve commented in earlier episodes this season that the idea that Merlin is terribly disadvantaged in his relationship with Arthur gets harder to swallow with each passing season, but even so I never thought the writers would take it to a point where Merlin would literally bend Arthur to his will. He certainly got away with it scot-free and it doesn’t seem to have been used for much more than comedic purposes.

At first I thought the device would be used so that Arthur’s change of demeanor would prompt Merlin to open up to him in ways he normally wouldn’t, but instead it seems to be mostly for Merlin's amusement. I then thought maybe it would turn out that Arthur was back sooner than we thought and that he was playing Merlin for much the same reason. But apparently that possibility went unexplored as well. That this device was used to turn out yet another “woe but I am so underappreciated” bit on Merlin's part was irritating.

Another thing that stood out to me in the way this was handled is that Merlin killing Agravaine was clearly supposed to be a major moment for Merlin, and I did like how it worked. But it had two unpleasant overtones. The first was my flashback to Merlin's line to Arthur about how he can keep a secret. It’s laughed off soon after, given his comment at the feast, but the Agravaine scene showed that Merlin is quite ready to _kill_ someone to keep it. In recalling the scene, it seemed to me that Merlin's resignation when Agravaine first confronts him is because Merlin already knows what he's going to have to do. Because he'll need to use his magic, he's also going to have to make sure no one walks out of there able to tell the tale.

The second thing that bothered me is how Merlin killing soldiers in a battle was given a somber moment, and yet what Merlin did to Arthur was merely laughed off. Considering how Arthur feels so vulnerable at all his betrayals, the fact that Merlin is listening to Arthur confide in him _while he's hiding so much_ from him rather undercuts the relationship we're supposed to be invested in (shippy or not).

Also, I guess we’ll never find out what Agravaine’s motivations were. I can only assume he’d always had a thing for Morgana which suggests a rather creepy backstory. Considering he was a character who had a lot to do this season, he was severely unexplored.

Things I did like

1) The whole scene of Arthur fighting his way across columns in part 1 was nicely done, I loved the look of it.

2) It was nice to see Hunith again, albeit for the two brief scenes we got. And it was not an overwhelming surprise that Gwen should have been in Ealdor, in fact I was surprised she hadn’t been there to start with. Hunith could run an inn at this point with Camelot refugees.

3) I had to laugh at Isolde telling Gwen about the power of love and the next scene we see is Merlin running up to Arthur and all but declare it to him as he tries to boost his spirits. Unlike Princess Bride, apparently in Merlin “As you wish” is replaced by “I believe in you.”

4) Nice bit, the sword drawing, that scene worked really well, although how all the people showed up just in time was rather unexplained. What, did the dragon give them all magical GPS?

5) Although I didn't care for how it was done, Arthur and Gwen reuniting worked for me in a way their relationship so far hasn't. I suppose it finally felt more earned, so I hope they do more with it next season.

Things that made no sense

1) Gwaine will “keep them off your back” and yet he and Gaius do nothing but stand there. So I don't see how Gwaine slowed anyone down any more than Gaius would have alone. At least Elyan fought people off and kept them from following.

2) I fail to understand how Morgana could send them sprawling from a distance and yet not catch up to them when they were injured and on foot. Or, for that matter, how the knights could be so close to the smuggler camp and yet they still manage to get away with no one noticing?

3) Very thoughtful of Merlin not to consider burying or otherwise destroying Arthur’s clothing that they left behind.

4) Then there’s the mysterious issue of Arthur once more having his knightly garb in Ealdor, complete with gloves. Where, exactly, was that hiding on their persons as they made their way through the woods?

5) Speaking of the impossible, where did Merlin have the aging potion hidden?

6) Another useful skill for Merlin (and Morgana for that matter) would be saving people’s lives when they are at the point of death. It was a shame to have Isolde die for the sole purpose of bringing Arthur and Gwen back together. 

7) Speaking of Tristan and Isolde, having them be fellow warriors and smugglers was an interesting take, but what was with making Tristan so much older than her? Wasn't her forced marriage to a much older partner in the original tale part of why we were supposed to sympathize with her?


End file.
